You've unboxed it, plugged it in, maybe watched the digits flip through their little startup animation — and now it's just sitting there showing a number that has nothing to do with your store. If you're wondering what the next step actually is, you're at exactly the right point to figure it out, and it's less complicated than it might look.
What needs to happen before it shows real numbers
Your counter needs one thing from you: a link that tells it what number to display. That's it. It doesn't need access to your Shopify admin, it doesn't need a developer, and it doesn't need you to understand how any of it works under the hood.
Where that link comes from is really the only decision in front of you.
Option 1: Get the link from an app (the route most people take)
An app connects to your Shopify store on your behalf, keeps track of your orders, and gives you back a single link to paste into your counter. You install it, log in with your store, and copy a URL — that's the entire process from your side.
Flipcounter is built for exactly this. Beyond just giving you a working link, it also lets you choose what the counter actually shows — order count or total revenue — and over what period (today, this week, this month, or a custom range). It also handles something most people don't think about until it bites them: refunded and cancelled orders. Without that, your counter's number only ever goes up, even on days where half your "sales" get returned.
Option 2: Build the link yourself
If you're comfortable writing code, you can build this yourself — Shopify has webhooks you can listen to, and you can serve up your own number from a small script or server. It works, but you're then responsible for keeping it running, handling refunds correctly, and making sure it doesn't quietly break at 2am on a Tuesday. Most non-developers find this isn't worth the ongoing maintenance for something an app already solves — but if you'd like to try, here's what that link needs to look like.
Once you have a link, here's where it goes
1. Open your Smiirl counter's companion app. 2. Find the setting for a custom data source — usually called "Push Number" or "JSON URL." 3. Paste the link in and save. 4. Give it a few minutes. The counter checks for updates on a timer, not instantly.
What to expect in the first hour
The first update might take a few minutes to show up, and that's completely normal. If it's been longer than that and nothing's changed, it's worth a quick check — here's how to troubleshoot a counter that isn't updating.
Once it's connected, there's genuinely nothing else to do. New orders show up on their own, and — if you're using something built to handle it — refunds and cancellations quietly correct the number without you lifting a finger.